Blessed are the peacekeepers
by IlmatarT
Summary: "Blessed are they who stand before / The corrupt and the wicked and do not falter. / Blessed are the peacekeepers, the champions of the just." -Benedictions 4:10
1. Whatever we were before

Ellana of the clan Lavellan had reached adulthood some years ago. Despite her parents' subtle hints of hopes of her settling down and having a family of her own, she had turned down the few young men who had courted her. Ellana had had admirers, yes, and sometimes on the longer trips to trade with the _shemlen_ she had let herself get flattered and enjoy some of that attention. After spending a fortnight long trading trip in the same bunk with Serand, the clan's blacksmith's son, and then disappointing the young man by not taking it any further than that, Serand had avoided going on the same trading trips with her. It was for the best, she had thought.

The trading parties that ventured to meet the _shemlen_ on a monthly basis consisted of a dozen or so of the clan. The group was made up of mostly clan craftsmen or their apprentices, some hunters who traded pelts and leather, and a handful of guards. When Ellana was younger she had trained with the hunters. She was adept with the bow, but had always preferred blades to archery. It had been a natural transition from hunter to guard and scout. She was one of the best in the clan in moving silently, swiftly and without being seen in the wilderness, and if trouble came about, she could defend herself and her clan with her two short blades that she carried strapped to her back.

As long as the current clan elders had been guiding them, the Clan Lavellan had reached out to other clans and the humans instead of hiding and avoiding contact. Every now and then they would meet with other clans, spend a week in the same place, trade and share stories and knowledge. It was clear, however, that the trading with the _shemlen_ was more fruitful. Both parties got from the other what they could not normally have, and the trading prices and gains were better than with other elven clans. Most of the time the trading ventures were peaceful and uneventful, but some times things went wrong. Once they had met with a group of humans intent on murdering all Dalish elves they met - it had been an ambush where Ellana had lost a friend, but had also killed someone for the first time. Sometimes they met with extortion that they could only get away from by having a couple of grim-looking guards with sharp daggers around. Sometimes they were chased by wolves, and once, before Ellana had joined the trading parties, they had even had to fight a group of surfaced darkspawn.

During the trade meetings usually Ellana kept quiet. She let the traders do their work, but she would always be there to observe. Sometimes when they met with people they had traded with before, even she would share a few words. Over the years she had learned to speak the common language well enough to mix for a City Elf they sometimes met. She took pity on the City Elves - she could not imagine a life where she had to answer for someone in the same way, living her life as a second-class citizen. The City Elves that worked for the humans they traded with reminded her of dogs that had been beaten. Their eyes sad, their heads bent, their words a quiet whisper or a whimper, their proverbial tails between their legs.

Over the years they had developed recurring trading relations with some groups. On the border of the Free Marches they had met every other month with a human trading caravan. Since they had met so often, they met with smiles and warm welcomes. One of the hunters - a strong bulky man with ginger hair, blue eyes and a stubble on his chin - had spent time playing chess or cards with the other humans. Once the hunter noticed how Ellana - the slender elven woman with silky golden hair on an elaborate updo on the back of her head, with large blue eyes and mirroring light blue vallaslin tattoos on her cheeks - had observed the games from afar, he had offered to teach her. That time Ellana had quickly shaken her head and slunk away shyly, but the hunter had piqued her interest. Next time they had met for trading, Ellana had cautiously approached him, and to her surprise found he had been expecting her. He already had a chess board set up, and when Ellana had asked about it, the huntsman had sat her down and taught her chess. Ever since then, they had played chess or cards together every time they met.

Ellana had noticed how her stomach tickled every time they saw the familiar caravan and the campfire on the horizon. The tickling had only gotten worse as they approached the caravan, and she had broken into jittery laughter against her will the moment the ginger huntsman who had introduced himself as Welton Heys - greeted her. With burning cheeks she had realized what was happening - she had not felt for the young elven men that had courted her nothing like the things for this human man, whose big hands could surround her entire waist with thumbs and forefingers touching.

She had felt the judging stares from the trading party on her neck whenever she had played the games, talked and laughed with Welton. It had made the tickling in her stomach turn into a knot - her own desires put down by the contempt that surrounded them. Welton had been very friendly and charming, and she had realized if she made but one small move, she could have joined him in his tent. The others had probably realized the same a lot earlier than her, and slowly she had begun to sense the atmosphere of their bi-monthly trading meetings changing. What had been friendly and fair, turned into suspicious and partial. The trade meetings lasted for a shorter time, and Ellana was called away from the humans to camp around another campfire for the night. With bitterness in her heart, Ellana realized it was all her fault for becoming too close with one of the _shemlen_.

Once back with the Clan, the elders called upon Ellana. They had decided to send her away alone to some important human meeting they called The Conclave. The Elders invoked her skills of scouting and self-defense and said she was their best option for gathering intelligence on what was going on. Most of the other clans they were in contact with had appealed to Clan Lavellan to send one of their own to the conclave, and then gather information for all the Dalish elves. Somehow Ellana had a feeling that this was an elaborate plan to cut her ties with a certain human trading caravan, and remind her of her allegiance to her own kind.

Ellana resigned to her fate, but after mulling it over, she started to feel quite excited to travel further than she had ever been before. She had the chance to see real human cities, meet even more new people... maybe learn new games! To her clan she feigned homesickness when she was saying goodbyes, but inside she felt a sparkle of excitement.


	2. The Temple of the Sacred Ashes

For the last few dozen miles to the Temple of the Sacred Ashes Ellana shared the road with more people than she had seen before during her lonesome travels. Suddenly there was never a moment when she could turn around and not see someone. For the last night before reaching the Temple she shared a campfire with a very foreign group of qunari. They explained they were called the Valo-Kas, and were hired to keep the peace and the neutrality during the Conclave meetings. They did not speak much more than that to Ellana or even amongst themselves, but they offered her some food and watched the fire letting her sleep surprisingly peacefully.

Alone Ellana moved faster than the large groups of people that were making their way to the Conclave. During the last day of hiking up the mountainside she passed a lot of mages and a lot of knights that she understood were called templars, but finally a stream of people on horseback and in carriages passed her as well. Ellana surmised that they must have been the really important people, and tried to remember the insignia printed on their cloaks, shields, flags and carriages.

The temple was a surprisingly large building to be built so high up on a mountain. As she mingled about the large campsite surrounding the temple, she listened to what people were talking about. A lot of priestesses clad in red and white were reciting what she gathered was called The Chant of Light. It was about their god, Maker. Apparently the god had taken a bride called Andraste, and Ellana suspected the Temple of Sacred Ashes was actually her final resting place.

Some people were talking about "The Hero of Ferelden" - Ellana recalled Welton Heys and some other humans she had met for trading before talking about this Hero as well. Ellana had put together from the various stories she had heard over the years that the Hero of Ferelden was wise and friendly and the best diplomat on the face of Thedas, but at the same time an intelligent tactician who wrought death on a battlefield like a hurricane. Apparently the Hero of Ferelden was also a woman of inconceivable beauty, curves and breasts that would make any man drool of desire. She was also married to the King of Ferelden, making her the Queen as well as the Arlessa of Amaranthine. To top all that, the Hero of Ferelden was not only a Grey Warden, but the Commander of the Wardens in Ferelden. According to the stories people were sharing now it had been her who had first found the Temple of Sacred Ashes with the intact Ashes of Andraste, and used a pinch of them to cure the Arl of Redcliffe from certain-death poisoning. Ellana suspected some of the stories she had heard about this fearsome woman were a tad exaggerated. It made her wonder if this was how the myth of Andraste had begun. There had once been an extraordinary woman in difficult times who had done some good work, and people had started telling stories about her. Would people in the future write cryptic poem-like recants of the Hero of Ferelden based on these exaggerated stories, Ellana wondered, and entertained herself for a while playing with the idea of what made up gods humans would believe in a thousand years.

If nothing else, her years as a scout and guard for the trading parties had made her very observant and easy to ignore. During her traveling and stay at the Temple Ellana had clad herself in bulky human clothing of a green protective coat and leather breeches and boots. The clothes made her look like no one at all, especially when she tied her hair up to a bun to hide their length and eye-catching shine. Even if her clothing felt strange and made her feel slower and clumsier, she blended in with people better, and could make her way almost anywhere without anyone really paying any attention to her. She suspected most people thought she was a City Elf servant to someone, and did not look twice to even regard the light blue Vallaslin on her cheeks. She could linger about and listen to any kinds of conversations, and slowly she began putting things together in her mind to add on things she already knew about humans. She knew that the mages lived in what were called Circles - apparently they were any kind of buildings that served more like prisons with decent food and lodgings. The templars were their effective jailors. She knew that even some Dalish elves ended up living in the Circles. The more she listened to the people talk among themselves she understood that there were two sides to the story of the mages. Some felt they were being imprisoned and oppressed by the templars, but some felt they needed the protection, and that the world needed the protection of the templars. Ellana was intrigued to learn more of their strife, but remained naturally impartial to their dispute since it was all quite new to her. She had to admit, however, that the ones demanding freedom from the ire of the templars and the Chantry made a more moving appeal and were generally angrier and thus rather convincing.

On the morning of her third day at the Temple she noticed the atmosphere of the campsite had changed to teeming excitement and nervousness. It did not take her long to figure out that the Conclave was finally ready to start - late in the night before the head of the Andrastians, the Divine Justinia, had arrived to the Temple.

The great stone doors of the Temple were finally opened and the attendees started to move in a steady stream from the emptying campsite to the Temple. Outside the doors representatives of the mages, the Chantry and the Templars as well as the grim-looking Valo-Kas qunari mercenaries were checking up on the attendees. Ellana felt a pinch in her stomach when she saw they were not letting everyone in. The Conclave was thought to be a turning point in the conflicts of the humans, so it made sense to make sure no troublemakers were let in. Ellana's first reaction was to dread that they would turn her away as well, but she knew she had received a letter from her Clan Elders to verify her identity and her role as observer for the Elven clans in the Conclave. When her time came, she approached with the letter ready in her hand.

"And your name is?" the templar she handed the letter to sneered at her. The man was quite a lot taller than she was, and he looked down at her haughtily.

"Ellana of the Clan Lavellan. I was sent to observe the Conclave for the Elvhen kind," she replied with the phrase she had been practicing in her head while waiting for her turn.

"Hmmh. I do not see what your part in this is," the templar said while eyeing through the letter.

"We are all children of the Maker," the young priestess standing next to the templar reminded him, and regarded Ellana with a kind smile. "I am glad the Dalish are taking an interest and part in the Conclave. Welcome, child."

Ellana smiled to the woman and nodded her head as thanks, and made a move to take the letter. The templar drew it back, however. "We will be keeping this."

Ellana wrinkled her small nose at him, and proceeded to the Temple to join the Conclave. Admiring the tall heavy stone doors of the Temple as she passed through them was the last thing Ellana remembered.


End file.
